Back-to-back matchups a staple in McHale’s day

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With the Rockets and Grizzlies playing a back-to-back against one another, following Friday’s game in Houston with Saturday’s in Memphis, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said he always enjoyed those sets of games when he played and they were much more common. He liked them, he said, because he needed to pay attention to the coach one fewer day.

“The scouting report was the same,” McHale said. “You didn’t need to hear the scouting report. I didn’t have to have the coach tell me the same thing over and over again. As a player, it’s hard to hear the coach say the same thing over and over again. As a player, it’s ‘We played them last night. We’re going to do the same things; they’re going to do the same things.’ It just comes down to execution. You’re going to know what they’re going to do. They’re going to know what you’re going to do. ‘Let’s go play. Let’s see who’s better.’

“We did a lot of them. New York home and home. Washington home and home. Philly home and home. I liked them.”

The Rockets did, however, say they received a useful reminder, with the Grizzlies limiting the Rockets to a season low 30 points in the paint and just seven offensive rebounds on a night the Rockets missed 47 shots.

“We had to play harder. We have to play tougher,” Rockets forward Chandler Parsons said. “That’s what their known for. They’re junkyard dogs. We need to rebound, get out and go in transition. We weren’t doing that at all.”